This invention relates to a suction catheter. more particularly, it relates to a suction catheter having a vacuum regulator by which the amount of suction or the suctioning force being drawn through the catheter can be regulated by the operator.
Suction catheters are used for the aspiration of undesirable fluids, particularly mucus, from the nose, mouth, pharynx, trachea, or bronchi or a patient. The control of the amount of force in suctioning, either in extent of time or degree, is important in many medical/surgical operations. In many patient treatments it is frequently necessary for the operator to have some means for instantaneously controlling the vacuum being drawn through a suction catheter. A convenient way of accomplishing this has been to provide a small aperture somewhere in the catheter, so that the operator can place a thumb or finger over this aperture to accomplish the desired result. However, closing the aperture with a bare thumb or finger has been recognized as a possible source of contamination and is otherwise psychologically undesirable. Accordingly, it would aid the maintenance of sterile conditions if means were provided by which such a vacuum control could be accomplished by a simple manipulation of the operator's finger, but at the same time, without direct contact of same with the mucus or undesirable fluid being withdrawn or eliminated.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,595,234 (Jackson) discloses a vacuum control for a medico-surgical suction tube. The tube has mounted around a longitudinal bore therein, a triangular-shaped vacuum control. A transverse opening is provided through the top surface of the control, which top surface is concave. A rubber band surrounds the control and because its top surface is concave, the portion of the band surrounding that surface is spaced therefrom. However, the disadvantage of this vacuum control lies in the possibility of an unintentional closing off of the vacuum opening by the portion of the band adjacent to the concave surface of the control. To alleviate such a situation, the concave surface would have to be even more indented than shown in the drawings of this patent, which in itself would create difficulty in an operator accurately placing his finger on the correct portion of the band to cause a desired closing off of the vacuum opening. Another difficulty in having the portion of the band so close to the concave top surface of the control is that depending upon the force required to depress the band onto said top surface, the vacuum being drawn through the catheter, the area of the vacuum hole, and the material of which the band is made, the band could unknowingly be sucked toward the hole and close it off before the operator could remedy such a situation.
An object of the present invention is to provide a regulator for a suction catheter adapted for selectively regulating the suction force being drawn through the catheter without direct contact of the operator's finger with the fluid being withdrawn or eliminated.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum regulator for a suction catheter which is easily operable, easily controllable, and presents no problem of an unintentional loss of control over the suction catheter.
The disadvantages of the Jackson vacuum control are solved by the vacuum regulator of the catheter of this invention. The top surface of this preferably square-shaped regulator is not concave, as is the same surface of the Jackson control, but is flat and the flexible band on the vacuum regulator portion of this catheter is spaced a sufficient distance from this top surface to avoid any unintentional closing off of its vacuum opening.